EFFECTS' OF WEATHER ON MARINE ORGANISMS 33 



It is quite passible that serpulids and other annelids as well as many other clinging 

 and boring forms would suffer, but little observation has been made o^ these. The 

 anemones, many of which are entirely exposed at low tide, seemed to contie through 

 the cold all right. Finally the effect on anadromous forms is to be considered. The 

 water in the rivers and lakes answers to the change of air temperatui-e more readily 

 than the water in the sea as the volume is comparatively small. The lowering of the 

 temperature of the fresh water would have an effect oil the food supply similar to 

 the effect im sea water, and as the change would be greater the effect would probably 

 be more marked. We are not here concerned with the food supply of fresh water fishes 

 and of the anadromous forms that live through the winter in fresh water we have no 

 definite information. The moet important anadromous forms are the Pacific salmon, 

 but the fresh water food supply does not affect the adults, since these die i-n. the fall 

 or early winter. Of the young forms, apparently all of the coho, most of the sockeye 

 and some of the spring salmon remain a year or more in fresh water and these small 

 fish would come under the influence of this cold weather. At present I have no data 

 to compare these with those that were hatched out the year previous. The low tem- 

 perature certainly did delay the hatching out of the eggs. At many hatcheries the 

 time of hatching was as much as a mo-^ith longer than usual and in some cases there 

 was a corresponding loss in the number of healthy fry for liberation. As in •nature, 

 the eggs, deep down in the gravel, are fairly well protected, and one might have 

 supposed that the difference would not be so great as in those hatched in the hatch- 

 eries, but apparently it must have been. The dog salmon fry are very plentiful -near 

 the Station for two or three months after they come down to salt water in the spring. 

 In 191-1 the first were noticed on March 4, in 1915, on March 7, and in 1916 none 

 were noticed until April 8, a-nd they did not become plentiful until much later. 

 Judging from the numbers that did appear one should not think that a greater 

 number than usual had been lost. If they had come down early in March they might 

 have had a difficult task to get a sufficient supply of food. The cohos (in their second 

 year) and the humpbacks were later than usual, but I have not exact dates for com- 

 parison. Probably all the species were affected in much the same way. 



If it is the case that the fry that get the earliest start, other thiiigs being equal, 

 makes the greatest growth during the first year, and ultimately becomes the largest 

 fish, it will be interesting to compare the growth of the fry that hatched out in 1916 

 with those in other years, but while the conditions might be much similar amon^ the 

 fish of the same year group, it might be*so different in different years as to shut out 

 any such comparison. In the older fish, in which the scales are already formed, there 

 , should, be a greater winter check for the winter of 1915-1916. Since the years 

 growth in all these older fish would be off to a. bad start this year, this should be 

 shown on the scales. 



Summary. 



The weather on the British Columbia coast during the winter and spring of 

 1915-19'16'wae much more severe than usual, affecting not only the atmospheric con- 

 ' ditions but also those of the sea, lakes and rivers. 



On account of the cooling of the surface water and possibly the disturbance by 

 . storms, marine forms had to go deeper for a food supply and in consequence many 

 of tliem have not been able to get the normal amount for food requirements. 



On account of low temperatures at low tides, some forms ef commercial value 

 were destroyed and the destruction of othel-s made a great difference in the food supply 

 of many marine species. The low temperature in the rivers and streams caused a 

 retardation in the hatchi-ng out of embryos and hence the fry of anadromous forms 

 got a later start than usual. 



79550—3 



